Investigating Undergraduates Grading Preferences During Remote Learning

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Muhammad Noor Abdul Aziz , Nurliyana Bukhari , Nurahimah Mohd Yusoff , Yusnidah Ibrahim , Abdul Malek Abdul Karim , Mohd Isha Awang & Aspalila Shapii

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic has affected higher education in unprecedented ways. As students are getting accustomed to the new mode of remote learning and the revised assessment components, the decision-makers at the university are letting students decide on their preferred method to receive their grades. In this paper, we report on the grade-reporting preferences of a total of 8,819 undergraduate students at one public university in Malaysia. The university provided three reporting choices: (1) using the existing grading scheme of CGPA; (2) using the ordinal-like scale of excellent, satisfactory, and unsatisfactory, with no CGPA; and (3) reporting both CGPA and grades with modifications. Results of chi-square statistics provide evidence of significant relationships between students’ preferences with their socio-economic status, year of studies, and CGPA. As the university continues the remote learning implementation with the new semester, there is a need to decide on whether to continue adopting the inclusive assessment policy. More voices should be given to students as they endure the new normal in their studies. A flexible policy can be tailored to students’ needs and demographics.

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